Food Stamps Allowed for Fast Food. WTF??!

I'm not really up on this but... (4.00 / 3)

The last I checked in New York you cannot buy processed food with food stamps. Of course by processed food they meant prepared food. At one time, perhaps it is still the case, you could not use food stamps for pickles or potato salad from the supermarket deli but you could for a jar of pickles from the shelf or prepackaged potato salad in the dairy section.

Some of these rules are (or were) very screwy. But when I'm on line in a supermarket and the lady in front of me is purchasing  four boxes that each contain two slices of French toast, a microwave dish, a plastic cup of HFCS with a foil lid  and a plastic wrapper inside the cardboard box and she uses the new plastic cards that replace food stamps to pay $16.00 for those four boxes, I get a little pissed off at the government for allowing that to happen.

It may sound a little right wingish but I'm a little pissed off because I know that nobody  who earned that $16.00 is going to give it to a supermarket for eight slices of French toast that won't even taste like French toast. The government that is using my tax dollars should force that person to buy a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs and a stick of butter.

But I'm a lot pissed off that my tax dollars paid for four boxes, four disposable microwave dishes, four plastic wrappers, four syrup cups and four foil lids that is going into landfill.    

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by: Eddie C @ Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 04:00:21 AM UTC

The flip side is that (4.00 / 3)

when the govt tells you what to buy (like in the WIC program) it's kind of big-brotherish. Plus then you're stuck dealing with the govt's idea of what good, affordable food actually is... and their ideas on that greatly differ from my own.

As for this fast food business, it's LA only right now, I think. I think it's a pilot program?

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 06:03:19 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

... (4.00 / 4)

The problem isn't the government telling people who use public money what to buy, but it's what they are telling them to buy.  I don't think it's big brotherish at all. This is what industry giants tell people to scare them into backing a company like coca-cola.
If even the government wanted to put a cola tax, the companies would spin in that the government is telling you what you should and shouldn't eat.  Well,  if they were trustworthy, shouldn't they? Shouldn't they be looking out for our best interests?
I'm not against granting those powers to a government, it's just what they do with those powers that end up hurting.  It's not bad that the gov't tells people with food stamps where they can be spent, but it's bad when they tell t hem they can be spent on fast food

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by: mikebinos @ Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 19:14:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Pilot program? (4.00 / 4)

Perhaps not.

From the FAQ,

The Food Stamp Restaurant Meals Program is a voluntary component of the Federal Food Stamps Act.

From the program's home page,

On July 25, 2005, the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) implemented the new Restaurant Meals Program throughout Los Angeles County.

Participating restaurants, including Denny's, Wendy's, and Subway.

This program is open to anyone with an EBT card. The propaganda says it is for anyone whose household includes a member who is elderly, disabled, or homeles, but there is no provision for monitoring, enforcing, or verifying this. No application required, no ID required.

Beeeeyootiful.

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by: count @ Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 19:18:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hey, There's Domino's Again (4.00 / 3)

I saw hundreds of restaurants listed including some nice sit-downs, including three BBQ places, a Japanese restaurant, several sit-down Mexican food. We here at World Headquarters can't afford to go to restaurants but rarely.

But most of the restaurants listed are of the crappy starch, fat & corn syrup variety. LA is killing the poor with federal dollars.

Since food stamps is a Federal program, how in the hell did they give the states power to implement it?

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by: Crider @ Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 20:19:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

state implementation (4.00 / 1)

Don't states usually implement federal programs? NIOSH, OSHA, RCRA, Clean Water Act, etc etc etc. Feds delegate to the states, states copy fed regs into their own codes, feds retain ultimate authority in case things go to hell.

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by: count @ Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 20:24:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Social Security (4.00 / 2)

That's the only Fed office in my area. Well, there's national forest here, too, that has real feds.

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by: Crider @ Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 20:37:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

So, if you're a homeless person who has no way to cook (3.00 / 3)

what exactly do you expect him/her to do with the eggs and butter?

Not being peevish, I'm just sayin'....

Actually, that question would apply to someone living in a hotel with no cooking facilities.

A person could always buy vegetables and eat them raw, but there's not as much that's usable in raw vegetables as there is in cooked, but if you don't have cooking facilities, then foodstamps wouldn't do you as much good if you bought raw vegies, etc. as it would if you bought a burger.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 01:11:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I wouldn't say that homeless people (4.00 / 3)

should be expected to cook, but let's give them options for better foods besides junk. The vast majority of restaurants on the list were fast food chains.  

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 01:55:17 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Fast food chains sell food for less than even low priced sit down restaurants (4.00 / 1)

if the pilot area is like Portland. The fast food restaurants are probably seen as a cost effective source of calories vs cost. At least that's what it looks like.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 02:21:23 AM UTC

[ Parent ]